Can the MEME bill proposed by American congressmen prevent politicians from being "Be Played for Suckers"?

Author: Zen, PANews

On February 27, Democratic Congressman Sam Liccardo of California introduced his first piece of legislation, named the “Modern Compensation and Misconduct Enforcement Act” (MEME Act), aimed at prohibiting federal senior officials from issuing, sponsoring, or promoting securities, commodities, or digital assets, with violators facing criminal and civil penalties.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, this newly elected member used the phrase ‘make corruption criminal again’ in the style of ‘MAGA’.

Pointing at Trump and $TRUMP, forcing him to “eat and vomit”

Liccardo initiated the “Modern Compensation and Malfeasance Enforcement Act,” with more than a dozen Democratic co-sponsors. According to the draft of the bill, it would prohibit the President, members of Congress, and other senior officials, as well as their spouses and children, from issuing or sponsoring securities, commodities, and meme coins, among other cryptocurrencies. In addition to restricting the issuance of coins to ‘shear the sheep’ by potential future politicians, the bill also requires Trump to turn over all profits he obtained through selling meme coins.

“I believe that when President Trump begins to implement this plan of boosting stock prices and selling off, everyone will be confused,” Liccardo said. This behavior is obviously unethical, so it begs the question, why there isn’t a clear enough ban. He also added that Trump’s meme coin has raised concerns about transparency, insider trading, and negative overseas impact.

On January 18th, Beijing time, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, he announced the launch of the Trump meme coin, $TRUMP. According to the $TRUMP official website, two affiliated companies of the Trump Group control 80% of the total token supply, with only 200 million initially in circulation, and the remaining 800 million will be gradually unlocked over the next three years. After Trump personally verified the authenticity of the product, the value of $TRUMP quickly soared, with a total circulation market value once exceeding 700 billion US dollars, reaching a peak of 80 US dollars. According to CoinGecko data, as of February 28th, the price of $TRUMP has fallen to 11.32 US dollars, a drop of more than 85%.

According to the chain analysis company Chainalysis, about 200,000 retail investors suffered heavy losses in the crash, and retail investors and MAGA supporters attracted by Trump’s influence became the bottom fishers. According to Reuters, the trading platform Meteora launched by $TRUMP allows creators to ‘mint meme coins and earn fees for life’, and the creator of $TRUMP has made about $100 million by providing liquidity on the Meteora exchange.

Liccardo also compared Trump’s meme coin with similar behaviors of other national leaders, such as the Meme coin CAR in the Central African Republic, and Argentine President Javier Mile’s promotion of LIBRA - which made him the focus of a corruption investigation.

New Bill That Can’t Pass

“I can assure you, this was not part of my plan when running for public office,” Liccardo said, adding that the reason for introducing the bill was in response to the meme coin launched by Trump last month, a move that even supporters of Trump in the cryptocurrency community found distasteful.

However, in the current Congress controlled by the Republican Party, there is almost no chance of the “Modern Compensation and Malfeasance Enforcement Act” directly targeting Trump being passed, Liccardo is well aware of this. He also stated that the bill could serve as a “placeholder,” meaning that if the Democratic Party takes power in the future, it may be reintroduced and pushed through. Additionally, this is also a symbolic protest against the apparent corruption.

“We must ensure that this kind of thing does not happen again in the future,” Liccardo said.

Can the MEME Act proposed by U.S. congressmen prevent politicians from ‘harvesting leeks’?(https://img.gateio.im/social/moments-6bbcf3fe29028acde0ba596161b1e45e)

However, just as laws such as the “Hatch Act” have already prohibited government officials from using their positions to influence political campaigns, the effectiveness of Liccardo’s proposed new bill may ultimately depend entirely on the White House’s decision.

A federal investigation shows that at least 13 former Trump administration officials violated the law by mixing campaign activities with government business during Trump’s previous term. However, the 2020 election has shown that at least for top government officials, if the White House chooses to ignore the requirements of the Hatch Act, the American public will not be protected, preventing senior government officials from illegally using their official power to gain partisan political advantages.

In addition, Ivanka, daughter of Trump and then senior advisor, promoted Goya coffee beans on Twitter in 2020, claiming that the company had been treated unfairly and stating that she had the “absolute right” to publicly express her support. Government oversight agencies criticized her for violating ethical standards prohibiting government officials from using their positions to support specific products or groups. The White House did not punish her for her ethical violations.

In contrast, the following day, President Trump expressed his love for the Goya brand in a tweet, and also posted a photo on his Instagram account. In the photo, he was in the Oval Office, with his desk filled with various Goya products. Even though the ethical standards for executive branch employees explicitly prohibit the use of their public office to promote private businesses.

Currently, what really prevents political figures from continuing to rush into the frenzy of issuing Big Coins is the already shaky market.